Record-breaking lunch! show 2011
British Sandwich Association involvement at the recent lunch! show helped make the event the best yet.
lunch!’s Innovation Challenge Live! took advantage of its slight change of format this year to ensure visiting buyers got more of a taste of the action. Designed to promote and celebrate genuinely new ideas in the market place, including brand new innovations and new twists on established concepts, the Innovation Challenge attracting over 60 entrants. The 15 short-listed finalists were invited to pitch their innovative ideas to a panel of industry judges (which included Franklyn Boltman, founder of independent sandwich bar Thanks for Franks and Neville Moon, head of food and beverage at Caffe Nero) and the attending audience. The Innovation Challenge Live! Award recipients were as follows:GOLD AWARD:
COMMENDED AWARD:
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Now in its third year, the live British Smoothie Championships 2011, sponsored by Magrini, was won by Silvie Parcot from Crussh, with her delicious smoothie ‘Pomegranate Passion Pleasure’; which was made by combining pomegranate, banana, mango, pineapple, pineapple juice, passion fruit and yogurt. After knocking out defending champion (and pre-event favourite) Vimal DePala from Shaketastic in the first heat, Parcot went on to beat Oliver Wilson-Fish, co-owner of Lancaster-based Juicafe, and Daniel Gentely, owner of Elephant Juice Bar in EC1, to win the title of nation’s best. Aside from winning a wealth of industry kudos, Parcot took away the prize of a Vitamix Quiet One Blender worth over £1000.
“I feel really proud to have won the British Smoothie Championship for Crussh and to be part of such a fantastic company. It is a real achievement for Crussh and a true reflection of our success in the industry!” says Silvie Parcot, the new British Smoothie Champion. “We’ve always been told that we do the best smoothies by our customers and it’s really nice to be publicly recognised now as well!” |
Recession, what recession? The current mood of doom and gloom was certainly not much in evidence during the recent lunch! food-to-go trade show food which took place from 29-30 September.
The most successful show so far, organiser Diversified Business Communications UK reported a record 40% increase in attendance for the fourth edition of its lunch. Over 4310 industry professionals from the UK’s £11.3bn out of home food and drinks sector packed the aisles at London’s Old Billingsgate to do business with some of the industry’s innovative manufacturers and suppliers.
The record-breaking attendance was complemented by a 76% rise in international visitors, plus a 40% rise in exhibitor numbers on last year, up to 200. Around 70% of the exhibitors demonstrating their continued support for the growth of the show by reserving stand space for lunch! 2012, which is set be held at the new venue of the Business Design Centre, Islington.
The show’s success was boosted in part by a substantial contribution from the British Sandwich Association, which, like previous years, ran the well-attended BSA Training Academy with a programme of practical help for independents. In addition, in the Keynote Theatre, BSA director Jim Winship delivered a presentation ‘From the Olympics to the 250th Anniversary – What’s in Store’, and International Sandwich & Snack News editor Simon Ambrose, chaired the highly successful ‘Big Lunch! debate on the sandwich market, with distinguished industry luminaries such as Subway’s George Burkhohl and Felicity Aylward, ex-M&S and more recently food technologist at BP’s Wild Bean Café, on the panel The BSA’s profile was also boosted with a busy stand at the show.
Chris Brazier, event manager of lunch!, was delighted by the “phenomenal” feedback received from visitors and exhibitors: “We have just had our best lunch! ever. Within the first two hours of opening on Thursday, we had over 1000 visitors through the doors! The aisles were packed with a who's who of the food industry doing genuine business with delighted exhibitors, who were showcasing the best in quality and innovation that this industry has to offer.”
“With a record 40% increase in visitor attendance and a record 70% of exhibitors already rebooked for our 2012 show, lunch! couldn't be in a better position as we move to our new home of the Business Design Centre,” continued Brazier. “I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our visitors, exhibitors, associations, media partners and the team at lunch! for their continuing support.”
Exhibitor Mark Stack, chief executive of Yum Yum Food Bros Company, was equally upbeat in hailing the show a huge success: “We have done over 15 shows in the last year and lunch! has been by far the most successful for quality of leads and results.”
Renowned for its exceptional show content, it wasn’t just the show floor that was buzzing at lunch!. The show’s highly anticipated Keynotes and lively, topic-focused, panel discussions were all well attended, with many enjoying standing room only crowds. Indeed, audience participation was key to two of the show’s biggest draws – the prestigious British Smoothie Championships and the new-format Innovation Challenge Live!.
"lunch! continues to be our number one platform for launching innovative new products to the grab-and-go sector. Tri-Star had a great show – lots of genuine interest and serious leads. Winning Gold in the Innovation Challenge for PortaTray™ was the icing on the cake! We're already looking forward to exhibiting at the new venue next year," says Kevin Curran, managing director of Tri-Star Packaging.
The show’s many first-time exhibitors also expressed their satisfaction. “lunch! was a great arena for Pidy to launch its second major wave of 14 lines into the market,” says the company’s UK general manager, Robert Whittle. “Coupled with our Innovation Challenge Gold Award for our recently launched flagship product Meringue Crumble, we were even more pleased with the interest it generated.”
Hundreds of surveyed visitors also sang the show’s praises. “lunch! Is a friendly and exciting show to gain new ideas and concepts, it allows buyers to meet real people who are passionate about their products,” says Jenny Luyten, ops manager at Bite Catering.
Other announcements from lunch! 2011 included the unveiling of the show’s first industry confidence survey. Conducted by the show’s organiser, Diversified Business Communications UK, respondents included nearly 100 individuals from a representative sample of retail businesses in the eating out of home sector.
The survey’s respondents were asked questions on how they expected their business to perform over the next twelve months, how optimistic they felt about the outlook for their business compared to the previous year, and how they think future consumer spending habits on food-to-go will change. The full results – which point towards a positive future for food-to-go over the coming twelve months – are now available to view on the lunch! website (http://www.lunchshow.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/lunch-survey-2011.pdf).
lunch! will take place in the new venue of the Business Design Centre, Islington, London, in September 2012. For further information, please visit www.lunchshow.co.uk.